Building confidence in literacy can change lives

For pub owner and suckler farmer Declan Walsh from Woodford, Co Galway, school was never easy. Struggling with literacy skills from a young age, Declan always dreaded reading aloud in class.

“From the very start, I was afraid of school. When I was six or seven, I had to get a patch over my eye for two years to help correct my eyesight, so I lost out on the very basics.

“I was fairly good at maths but I always found English difficult. I remember one teacher – she would tape the strong readers and those who struggled, then make us listen back to hear our mistakes,” he says.

Declan’s story is just one – but there are approximately 700,000 adults in Ireland with unmet literacy needs.

Results of a survey, ran by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported, one in five adults in Ireland scored at or below Level 1 in Literacy, meaning they struggle with tasks like reading instructions, filling out forms or using digital media. International Literacy Day was marked on 8 September, and this week focuses on highlighting the importance of literacy at every age.

Throughout all of his schooling, Declan struggled with spelling. After completing his Group Cert (also known as the Day Vocational Examination was a different exam from the Intermediate Certificate), he decided to leave school. “My mother encouraged me to go to Athenry Agricultural College as we had a suckler farm at home. I started the Green Cert, and during the theory classes, the teacher gave me the option of saying no to reading aloud.

“For the first time in my life, I could relax and listen to the lesson. All the pressure was gone and all of a sudden I could take my own notes,” he explains.

Building confidence

After building his confidence in Athenry, Declan came home and took over the family pub business, Walsh’s Bar in Woodford.

In 2004, Declan saw an advert for ‘Brush up on your English skills’, in an outreach centre in Borrisokane, north Tipperary. He got his sister to ring up the organiser, Ester Mackey, to get more information about the classes.

“I hadn’t the courage to do the course in my own county. I was afraid of someone knowing me and Tipperary isn’t too far away,” he says.

Declan could never have predicted that he would spend the next nine years travelling to Borrisokane on Thursday evenings to attend classes with Ester and a small group of fellow farmers. The two hour class ran from September to May.

“It was around the time that smartphones took off, and farming paperwork was becoming more digitalised,” says Ester, regional literacy coordinator for Tipperary.

Ester was able to show the group what they had learned over time and convinced them to put their knowledge together for certification. The most important thing for Ester was that people could be honest about their skills. Building up their confidence with education, the group of mostly part-time farmers, completed five FETAC (now QQI-accredited) courses.

“The people in the group were keeping their books covered up initially so that they couldn’t see each other’s writing, but later on, they were helping each other. We would talk openly about spellings, sentence structure and ratios and computers. I discovered some of them were very shy about reading aloud in class, because they had a lot of negative experiences in school, but they started to trust each other and open up,” she says.

For Ester, it was very rewarding; she was going into the classes after a day’s work, and after ‘laughing, learning and sometimes crying’, she always left on a high.

Declan says, “It took a while for everyone’s confidence to grow, but what we achieved over that period of time was amazing – a massive achievement. Honestly, it was the most precious two hours of my week.”

Declan’s family pub developed over the years, and he decided to set up his own restaurant and hospitality business.

“It was very successful, I was employing 17 people at one stage, and it was really busy. I hired people whom I could trust; unbelievably loyal people who helped me with the business and the management side of things,” he says.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitality industry was severely impacted, and it hasn’t been the same for Declan’s business since.

He leased out the restaurant and focused on the pub. He is currently also exploring different options, while continuing his small suckler and horse enterprise.

“Farming was always my passion. When I just had the farm and the pub, it was an ideal situation. I only have 18ac now. I have the rest of my farm leased as the business was too busy, but I wouldn’t ever be without a bit of land,” says Declan.

Perceived stigma

For Declan, the key to his success was the camaraderie of the group and the support that the tutor provided throughout.

“Ester was unbelievable at helping us along. Confidence in literacy was the biggest thing, and I realised I wasn’t as bad as I thought. If I made a mistake, I could just go back and do it again,” he says.

There are various options available for adults wanting to return to education, from informal options, digital skills groups and also more structured programmes, with progression options and pathways identified in the areas that interest the learner.

“I am aware that people are slow to speak about literacy; there’s a perceived stigma around having an unmet need,” says Ester.

For anyone who might be hesitant in taking the first step but is interested in free literacy classes in their area, Declan has the following advice.

“Don’t feel like you’re alone. There’s so much support out there, and many different levels that you can start at. And it will build your confidence in every way. The gift of reading is the greatest thing. Just take the first step – I would totally recommend it”